Top 10 Royal & Sun Alliance Chase Facts

Here's our top ten list for the Royal & Sun Alliance

1. The Royal & SunAlliance Chase had a slight name change in 1998, having been run as he Royal SunAlliance Chase for the first time in 1997. But Sun Alliance, which merged with Royal Insurance in 1996, is among Cheltenham’s longest running sponsors. The Sun Alliance Chase was run for 23 years and Sun Alliance sponsored at Cheltenham for 26 years altogether. From 1971-3, the Foxhunter Chase was titled the Sun Alliance & London Foxhunters
2. Sun Alliance & London was the first sponsor outside racing to embrace commercial sponsorship at The Festival. Only the tote precedes the insurance company. Before 1974 the race was titled the Broadway Novices’ Chase and the Totalisator Champion Novices’ Chase.
3. Since 1960, five horses have won both the Royal & SunAlliance Chase and totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup. They are:
   1963 Arkle (Gold Cup 1964-6)
   1974 Ten Up (Gold Cup 1975)
   1979 Master Smudge (Gold Cup 1980 on the disqualification of Tied Cottage)
   1990 Garrison Savannah (Gold Cup 1991)
   1999 Looks Like Trouble (Gold Cup 2000)
   To this list might be added the name of Tied Cottage, winner of the Royal & SunAlliance Chase in 1976 and the Gold Cup in 1980, before subsequent disqualification.
4. The biggest field for the race has been 30, in 1986, and the smallest eight, in 1993.
5. Fred Winter has the best record in the contest, having landed three victories with Killiney (1973), Pengrail (1975) and Brown Chamberlin (1982). Among current trainers Willie Mullins and Paul Nicholls have both landed the race twice, Mullins having sent out Rule Supreme (2004) and Florida Pearl (1998) while Nicholls has trained the past two winners Star De Mohaison (2006) and Denman (2007).
6. Irish-trained winners number eight since 1964, the latest being Rule Supreme in 2004.
7. The most successful jockey in the Royal & SunAlliance Chase has been Peter Scudamore, who notched up a hat-trick from 1991 to 1993 with Rolling Ball, Miinnehoma and Young Hustler. The latter went on to further big-race success while
   Miinnehoma won the 1994 Grand National.
8. The longest-priced winners since 1964 are Hussard Collonges in 2002 and Canny Danny in 1983, both at 33/1, with Arkle the shortest-priced at 4/9 in 1963.
9. The fastest running of the race was by Lord Noelie in 2000 at 6 mins 5.3s, beating the previous best of 6 mins 6.6s set by Miinnehoma in 1992.
10.  The West Awake is the only horse to have won both the Ballymore Properties Novices’ Hurdle (previously the Royal & SunAlliance Novices’ Hurdle) and the Royal & SunAlliance Chase. He won the Hurdle in 1987 and the Chase in 1988

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